Niche vs Five Star Study App
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Niche
Discover colleges that fit your profile and interests with personalized recommendations. Explore detailed profiles, read student reviews, and find scholarships. High school seniors can even get accepted directly through the app.
- Personalized college recommendations
- Niche Profile for matching
- Direct Admissions for seniors
- In-depth college profiles
- Scholarship search and matching
- Student and alumni reviews
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The Niche app is the key to your college search. Using your Niche Profile, interests and priorities, we recommend colleges that could be a great fit so you can research your options and find where you belong. High school seniors can even get accepted to college based on their profile with Niche Direct Admissions. The Niche app brings student and alumni reviews, personalized college recommendations, scholarships and more to your fingertips. To search for K-12 schools, graduate schools, places to live or places to work, please visit Niche.com on your mobile web browser. FEATURES • Your Niche Profile: Build your profile so we can find the best schools for you, keep you on track throughout the admissions process and match you to scholarships. • Personalized recommendations: We create customized lists of colleges that might be a good fit for you based on your specific priorities and interests. • Direct Admissions: High school seniors can receive acceptance and scholarships from participating colleges in real time based on the information in their Niche Profile — no application needed. • In-depth college profiles: Explore nearly 7,000 college profiles that include data on cost and financial aid, admissions requirements, student life and more. You can also read reviews from current students and alumni. • Dashboard: Keep your college list organized, update your status with each college and follow your checklist. The dashboard is also where seniors will find Niche Direct Admissions acceptances, matches and scholarship details. • My List: As you explore your options, save the colleges you like to your list. The more schools you add, the better we can personalize our recommendations for you. • Scholarship search: Browse and apply for college scholarships by category or get matched directly with scholarships you are eligible for. WHAT SETS NICHE APART? Quality data • Niche takes the most comprehensive data available on colleges in the U.S. and puts it all in one place. We’re constantly updating and connecting millions of data points to produce new rankings and insights. Honest reviews • Since day one, Niche has been committed to showing our users what it’s really like at a college or school. You’ll be able to read about real experiences people have had to get a sense of what life at a certain college might be like.
Five Star Study App
Organize your notes and schedules to enhance your study sessions. This tool allows you to manage your academic life efficiently, enabling you to study effectively from any location.
- Note organization
- Schedule management
- Study anywhere
- Study anytime
- School year tool
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Organize your notes and schedules with the Five Star® Study App and study anywhere, anytime.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Niche at 4.1 against Five Star Study App's 2.9. Niche also leads on review sentiment (65% vs 24%) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 weeks). Five Star Study App's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Niche holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 2.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.4K and 449 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 65% of Niche's written reviews are positive against 24% of Five Star Study App's.
Niche ships an update fortnightly, Five Star Study App every 6 weeks. Both last shipped on November 11, 2026.
| Parameter | Niche | Five Star Study App |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (1.4K ratings) — better | 2.9 (449 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 64.7% of reviews — better | 23.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1.4K — better | 449 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #129 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 73 MB | 204 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | NICHE.COM, INC. | ACCO Brands USA LLC |
Customer experience
Niche
Five Star Study App
User reviews
Niche
From 1.4K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Helpful for college search
- 💡 Great for finding scholarships
- 🚀 Provides a lot of useful information
- 👍 User-friendly interface
- 👍 Comprehensive college data
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and bugs
- 🐛 Logs out frequently
- 🚫 Limited to just college search, lost previous features
- 🚫 Requires too much personal information
- 🚫 Inaccurate or incomplete data for some colleges
Five Star Study App
From 449 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Quick scanning
- 📁 Organized note-taking
- 🔋 Helpful for studying
- 💡 Integrates with Google Drive
Room to improve
- 🐛 Scanning issues
- 🔍 Poor image quality
- 🤯 Buggy and crashes often
- 🤔 Confusing flashcard feature
Bugs and requests
Niche
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes and freezes
- Logging out issues
- Incomplete or inaccurate college data
Requested features
4 requests- Add back K-12 school and neighborhood search features
- Improve navigation and prevent automatic logout
- Allow more flexible college searches without required personal info
- Enhance data accuracy, especially for tuition and majors
Five Star Study App
Reported bugs
4 issues- App gets stuck on loading screen
- Scans not saving properly
- Camera not working
- Flashcards not functioning as expected
Requested features
4 requests- Handwriting to text conversion
- Ability to edit scanned notes
- Better iPad support
- More customization options
In-app purchases
Niche
No in-app purchases
Five Star Study App
No in-app purchases
